Everyone has such different rating systems that it can sometimes be frustrating to discern whether or not someone enjoyed a book and would recommend it.
Just to be clear, when I rate a book three stars, it means I generally enjoyed it - after all, it is the “average” rating - not “poor” “below average”, nor “above average”, “brilliant.” Yet I’m sure everyone who is actively engaged in the Goodreads community would agree that if the overall average rating of a book were a 3.0, or really anything less than a 3.7 (3.5-3.6 for some) - they wouldn’t touch it. Hm, something to think about for a poll. I’m genuinely intrigued to know this.
Okay, now that my penchant for prattling has been satiated, the real review begins. If you enjoyed Bella Mackie’s dark sense of humor in How to Kill Your Family, you’ll enjoy What a Way to Go. Only perhaps not quite as much.
Many critiques I find of Mackie’s work come from a place of bias. People seem to acknowledge this and simply don’t care: yes, let’s all hate on someone for their privileged upbringing, when their books are written about… privileged, wealthy, yet horrible people!. Shocker that someone would write what they know, right?!
Readers should know that her characters are majorly flawed and meant to be extremely unlikeable. If you can’t handle a story with unlikeable characters or root for anyone who you couldn’t see as being your “bestie” in real life, then probably skip these books. Personally, I have no problem with unlikeable characters. I only hate it when characters are extremely unlikeable and flawed yet trying to be forced onto us as heroic and misunderstood.
I love that Mackie has genuinely strong female characters who, yes, may seemingly play the role of dutiful wife - yet unbeknownst to their wildly egotistical husbands, they’re five steps ahead of them at all times. But even when those women get outmaneuvered in the end, it’s generally by another woman, not a man.
I don’t always feel the need to describe the storyline to people, given that it’s written in the Goodreads description as well as on the book or e-book, Amazon, whatever you’re reading from. But some of the quotes from here do crack me up (oh, that’s another critique I’ve seen a lot: she’s “trying too hard”… agree to disagree).
Upon the dead man viewing his family (mostly his four children) debating what to put out to the public as a statement about his untimely demise:
”My PR had been on the phone and persuaded my eldest that a gushing tribute would be heartily appreciated by the papers.
My wife, Olivia, who had chosen not to say anything at all throughout the conversation, suddenly announced she was going to bed. ‘Let the PR people do it, darling, that’s what they’re paid for. Whatever you come up with will make us sound idiotic.’ After she left, the discussion quickly descended into farce.
‘Strong’, suggested Jemima.
‘Meaning he would drive a truck over your grandmother,” shot back Lyra.
‘Would drive a truck over your grandmother and her bank manager.’ That, from Freddy, made them laugh. We were always surprised when he spoke, and to hear him be funny for perhaps the first time had them almost wheezing in delight. But it only got worse from there. ‘A visionary in his field’, ‘Saw you as a mark a mile away.’ ‘A devoted husband’ was translated as ‘Bought his wife diamonds every time he shagged someone half her age.’
I left after Lyra suggested ‘A family man’ and Clara, with ferocity, replied, ‘We don’t know how many other kids he had.’ That one went too far. I’d always been very careful about that. God knows you don’t want to be pushing sixty and suddenly find out you’ve got a toddler running around somewhere with a mother whose engaged a Rottweiler of a lawyer who knows a big payday when he sees one.”.
Some lines will undoubtedly offend, so again, if you aren’t the type to laugh at nearly everything, you’ll probably walk away annoyed. I am tremendously empathetic and compassionate, but I can also laugh at some of the sickest shit. Even when it’s affected me personally. No, scratch that: especially when it’s affected me personally.
On his wife’s jewelry line:
”I closed it down the moment it became clear the factory she was using to manufacture her designs used child labor. I appreciated their reasoning, the kids had small fingers, perfectly designed for working with fiddly gemstones, but while you can get away with most things if you claim ignorance and pay the inevitable fine, for some reason child labor is still a big no-no for most people.”
On his youngest daughter and child, Clara:
”She wasn’t buying it, that much was obvious. Clara was the most suspicious of all beings, a teenage girl. If it wasn’t for all the hormones, they could run the most successful interrogation team the world has ever seen.”
Olivia, his wife:
”I must be in a hospital. Perhaps the waiting room? But we always went to the Princess Helena and they’d never have dared install spotlights. My good friend Diana Latham donated a lot of money to their chemo wing and part of that cash went towards making it a calming and stylish place to stay. Her interiors team did a fabulous job, I remember one doctor saying it was the place to get cancer, which nobody apart from me laughed at. He wasn’t wrong though. House & Garden even ran a feature on how to get the Latham Wing look. Diana had made the sick bed aspirational.”
So why the three stars? Well, it did go on quite a bit longer than necessary. Another reason I wasn’t overly impressed with it was the ending could have been a lot better. I feel like this book and perhaps her debut, as well, both get off to strong starts and middles, but by the time the ending comes, even if there is a twist, it’s not all that shocking.
Would I recommend it? I’d recommend her debut novel, How to Kill Your Family, first. If you enjoy that one, you’ll likely enjoy this one too. If you don’t enjoy it, I can almost guarantee you won’t enjoy this one, either.